This fight isn't over: “tax reform” bill takes health care away from 13 million people

Just a few days ago, GOP senators passed their disastrous "tax reform" bill. The bill — which was written behind closed doors with little time for people to read it, let alone understand it — is now one step closer to being signed into law by Donald Trump.

This so-called “tax reform” is actually an attack on health care in disguise. It threatens to take away health care from 13 million people by chipping away at the life-saving Affordable Care Act (ACA) and targets critical safety net programs that low-income people rely on.

Now the House and the Senate must combine their versions of the legislation into one bill and send it to Trump’s desk. They plan to do this by the end of December.

Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell are doing everything they can to pass this dangerous bill.

There’s still time to stop this and we can’t wait any longer. Call your senator now.

This bill is bad for many reasons — like the fact that it favors the wealthiest Americans over everyone else. And though a specific attack on abortion access was forced out of the bill, it would still devastate women and underserved communities most of all.

Yeah, you read that right. Extreme politicians are targeting women, people of color, and families with low incomes in a tax bill. Here’s how that would happen:

Donald Trump and his cronies in Congress have been trying (and failing) all year to attack our health care. Their newest plan is to target the ACA through the GOP tax bill.

A measure in the tax bill would end the ACA “individual mandate,” aka the measure that requires people to sign up for health coverage. Without the mandate, insurance will likely become less affordable — with average premiums expected to rise by 10 percent. What’s more, a projected 13 million people are estimated to lose coverage because of this move.

The fight’s not over yet. Now’s the time to take action. Call now — every voice counts.

And it even goes a step further. Because the bill adds 1.5 trillion to our nation’s credit card, the tax plan is also expected to result in cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and other important programs.

For women in particular, the consequences would be grave. Nearly 9.5 million women gained health coverage thanks to the ACA, bringing the number of uninsured women down by half.

The consequences for communities of color would be equally steep. Within Black and Latino communities, the proportion lacking coverage fell, too.

The coming weeks are going to be crunch time for GOP leaders, who desperately want to send their bill to Donald Trump as soon as they can. But it’s crunch time for us, too. With our health on the line, we need to stop these attacks on health care in their tracks.